Any Faster
by UFAlien
Summary: If the wind blew any faster, it would deafen the world." - Jet the Hawk Jet is the king of Extreme Gear - all winner, all the time. Except when he goes toe to toe with Sonic. And this next rematch is gonna be a lot different... SonJet, clean
1. Chapter 1

Any Faster

"If the wind blew any faster, it would deafen the world." -Jet the Hawk

CHAPTER ONE

A quiet desert where nothing moves. A silent jackrabbit, bounding along the sandy ground, ears perked. A small lizard climbs a rock not far away. The hot sun's warmth is stored in the rock, heating up the cold-blooded creature. The lizard lays down to rest when a mighty bird of prey, a raptor, sweeps slowly overhead.

A whoosh of air. The cheer of the crowd. An announcer's voice, breaking through it all, emanating from gargantuan speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen – Jet is closing in on the current leader, Roark!"

A hawk on an airboard rides a gust of wind left behind by a large bear on a floating bike. These are the pinnacle of racing technology – Extreme Gears. And Jet is the best Extreme Gear rider in the world... probably.

The raptor swoops in closer to the lizard, surveying its prey. The lizard, unaware, only lays there, continuing his rest.

The roar of air dies down a bit as Jet swerves to the side, leaving the wake of air Roark had left behind. There's a dash pad up ahead. Roark is too far to the right to hit it. Jet just doesn't want to. He doesn't need it.

"And Jet has missed a golden opportunity folks, that dash pad was calling his name!"

The raptor has circled behind the lizard. It has the perfect chance to take the lizard by surprise. It continues circling around to the front.

Jet has a smirk on his face. Nobody from the audience can see it, as his face is turned away from the camera. But they all know it's there.

"GEAR CHANGE!" , Jet yells. His board and feet are surrounded by a glow as the board dissolves away into the light, and when it has faded the board is replaced with something like roller skates without the wheels – another form of Extreme Gear. With the skates, Jet gains a boost in speed and shoots past Roark in an incredible burst of acceleration.

The raptor, takes a hard turn, reversing itself. It uses its wings to push itself forward with a blast of air, making up for any lost speed and adding to it. And the raptor grabs the lizard in its claws and takes off.

Jet is ahead. Way ahead. The race isn't over for another 2 laps – but he's got it already. He has victory, even though he hasn't won... yet. He won't cross the finish line to end the race for a while.

The raptor has the lizard clenched tightly in its talons and is flying back to its nest. It's a while home, to one of the few trees in this desert – but he has his dinner. And he will be full and happy tonight, even though he hasn't partaken – yet. He won't eat the lizard for a while.

What the raptor doesn't know is that there's another lizard, on another rock, not too far away. The raptor has met this lizard before. He went home hungry the first time; the lizard outdid him. There was a second time, too. The raptor still did not catch the lizard, but the lizard did not escape the raptor. They matched each other's moves exactly. And only when they both decided to stop, simultaneously, did either of them leave.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The race is over. Nobody's surprised Jet's won. He's walking down the entrance hall to the track. Reporters are swarming around him like mosquitoes. Question after question, cameras everywhere. All the usual stuff. Asking how he feels about the victory, what he thinks his chances for winning the tournament are. Silly questions with obvious answers. Jet keeps walking and ignores the reporters, giving only an occasional smile to the cameras.

A new question.

"Jet, it's come to our attention that you've raced Sonic twice now, at least. The first time you lost, the second time was a tie. Tell us, if you race him again, what do you think your chances of beating him are?"

Jet springs to life. His indifferent smiles are replaced with an honest, confident smirk as he turns to the camera.

"Impeccable. I could've beaten blue boy either of those other times."

The press seems almost stunned by his sudden vocalization, as they're obviously unaccustomed to hearing him reply to their queries. But the line of questioning continues.

"Then, may we ask, why didn't you?"

Jet's smirk widens further. He's as confident, as pleased as he's ever been.

"Don't you get it? If the wind blew any faster, it would deafen the world."

Jet continues walking. The reporter mob stands there, tapes being checked, notepads being scrawled upon. And Jet just keeps walking right out the door.

Sonic is sitting on a couch in a hotel in the middle of Station Square. He's just watching the final race coverage. He's not surprised Jet won, in fact, he expected it. He takes a bite of his chili dog. Now the cameras are following Jet down toward the entrance. _He's smiling_, Sonic thinks, _but he really wishes they'd stop asking so many questions._

Sonic hears his name mentioned in one of the questions. His ears perk up. And, to his shock, Jet actually, verbally answers the question, smirking with wild abandon. And the follow up is even better – Jet's smirk is so huge it looks like his face might fall off. _He knows I'm watching._

Sonic swallows his last gulp of chili dog, smirks right back at the TV set, and runs out the door.

Okay! ^^ That's it for the first posting. PLEASE R+R, I'm really proud of this so far. And stay tuned ^^


	3. Chapter 3

Jet was standing in the rain. He didn't think of doing anything else... there was nothing else to do. With all the problems in the world, all the thoughts he should have, and all the things he could be dreaming, there was nothing to do but wait.

He was leaning against the streetlamp. The white light was on even though it was daytime. It was almost dark enough – the weather had turned. There was light, misty precipitation drifting down to the ground, leaving the air behind for a while. He was a bit like the water – he had left the air. To wait.

_He saw me. Of course he did. How could he not?_

People walked along the street. One woman was carrying a small umbrella, deployed over her head. It seemed she was scared of the water. Maybe just caught up in appearances, or spoiled. She'd probably never been uncomfortable in her whole life.

Another woman was draped in the remnants of a blanket, stained with substances nobody could identify, and full of holes and tears. Her long skirt was fashioned from a discarded tablecloth, ripped at many of the seams. She sat down next to the streetlamp across the street from Jet. She glanced around, and caught sight of him. She gazed at him for a bit, almost as if she knew him. The woman with the umbrella walked away.

The twilight came and went and nobody really noticed. The clouds darkened a bit. Without the sun, it was just a part of the long slide toward nightfall. The sky darkened and the light from the streetlamps grew brighter, or so it seemed. As the night reached its darkest point, the misty air was instead filled with a real, heavy, but thunderless rain. It bounced off of Jet and the woman, the streetlamps and the skyscrapers and the roads, the abandoned cars lining the sidewalk.

Jet gazed back toward the woman. She looked up at him.

_I know... You're waiting too. I'm not sure what for, exactly... but I hope you find it. Neither of us can really say we know one home. But we know where we are better than they do. And who we are. And who THEY are – we know them all too well._

Jet crossed the street to the woman. He sat down next to her and spoke.

"Don't say anything, okay?"

He handed her a large sum of money and stood up to walk away. As he walked down the street, he stopped for a moment and turned back to her, and spoke once more.

"Thank you for waiting with me. I liked meeting you." And he turned away again as he began walking and searching.


End file.
